Basic SEO Tips: How Long Does it Take for SEO Efforts to Pay Off?

Basic SEO Tips: How Long Does it Take?

This is a very common question. Let me show you some results but know that every website is different. Its page rank/domain authority, incoming links, what has happened with it in the past, whether it was optimized at all prior to our efforts, all of these are ranking factors. How hard or how competitive the keywords are will affect the time to achieve top 10 or first page rankings. Technical reasons could prevent a site from ranking. How quickly people return to the search engine can affect one’s ranking.

The site below was redesigned in WordPress in early February. We benchmarked the visibility before we were awarded the website project. It was launched and rankings were showing up on the 3rd page, or worse, not in the top 40 search results.

This keyword phrase was not ranked in the top 40 in January with the old website. By February 13, 2017, after optimization, it began to show up on the Bizwatch SEO reports. It ranks #18, which is on the 2nd page. If it were paid search, the client would be showing up in 8 minutes but they’d pay per click for each web visitor from the ad. We encourage paid search, but not all companies invest in it. In order to see potential traffic from this keyword, the client will need to secure a first page ranking. We will make continued changes to the website to see if we can earn a first page ranking. After that, to move further up the 1st page (from the 9th or 10th position to the top 3 organic search results), the client needs to be willing to invest in continuous content on his/her website. It needs to be educational and worth sharing. If the content becomes stale, or few changes occur, Google may not give the site the ranking boost the client wants.

This keyword has improved but still sits on the 3rd page at #21, nationwide. In order for this keyword to move up, the client needs to invest in the following:

Precise keyword matching on-page and on-site

Text links that match the desired keyword phrases

Content marketing strategy that curates fresh content that people will want to share and read

YouTube videos, or social media posts that incorporate this content and tag it for Columbus, Ohio may help as well

Examine the competitor SEO reports from Bizwatch to understand which sites rank for this keyword – and how to they compare in site depth, content and backlinks to yours?